Once again, Jim Leyland made a pitching change with the Bases Loaded. Once again, it led to a game-changing Grand Slam. Once again, it led to a Tigers defeat. This time, it ended the season for Detroit. The first eventful play of Game 6 of the ALCS happened in the Bottom of the 3rd inning with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd for the Sox in a 0-0 game. Star 2nd Baseman Dustin Pedroia was at the plate, and he hit a ball deep to left field that was just inches foul. The play went to replay review, and the call was confirmed. Boston than struck 1st in the Bottom of the 5th with Jacoby Ellsbury's RBI Single scoring rookie Xavier Bogaerts.
The lead would not last long, however, as the Tigers struck for 2 runs in the Top of the 6th on a Victor Martinez 2 run single, given the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Detroit had a chance to tack on more runs, as they had runners on 1st and 3rd with 0 outs. But Johnny Peralta grounded into an extremely odd double play, where Martinez was tagged out in between 1st and 2nd, and Prince Fielder, for whatever reason, decided to run home and was tagged out in between 3rd and home. Alex Avila struck out looking to limit the damage. The Sox would threaten in the Bottom Half of the 6th, as they had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. But Mike Napoli struck out swinging and Jared Saltalamacchia popped out to end the threat. Now we will talk about the Bottom of the 7th, and the point of the beginning of this article.
Johnny Gomes led off the inning for Boston with a double. Stephan Drew than struck out swinging. Bogaerts than walked. It was clear by this point the Detroit's starting pitcher Max Scherzer was done for the night, and Jim Leyland called on Lefty Drew Smyly from the bullpen. The 1st he faces batter, Ellsbury, hits a groundball to the normally defensively gifted Jose Iglesias. Stunningly, Iglesias bobbles the ball, and everybody is safe. So instead of a potential inning ending double play, the Red Sox now have the Bases Loaded with 1 out. Leyland than calls on Setup man Jose Veras to get out of the jam. First batter he faces is Shane Victorino. You know what happens next. Grand Slam on an 0-2 pitch. 5-2 Red Sox, and Fenway Park goes into a frenzy. The Tigers went down quietly after that, and the Red Sox are going to the World Series.
Unlike in Game 2, when Leyland made the foolish decision on not calling on Lefty Phill Coke to pitch to David Ortiz, who ended up hitting a game-tying Grand Slam, I do not blame him at all for putting in Veras to face Victorino. Veras had been very reliable for the Tigers, and it would not have made much sense to leave the lefty Smyly in considering the fact that Victorino hit .314 against left handed pitching this season.
In closing, I would like to say congrats to the Boston Red Sox. This Red Sox-Cards World Series should be great to watch.
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